Game board insert and method of construction

ABSTRACT

A game board insert having a low friction playing surface and being comprised of a base cloth, a base board, a pattern board which is secured to the base board and has portions cut therefrom corresponding to the pattern on the face of the insert. A layer of cloth is stretched over the pattern board and a plurality of pressed leather pips are disposed over the stretch cloth and within the cutout portions of the pattern board.

United States Patent [191 Busby 4 1 Oct. 1, 1974 I541 GAME BOARD INSERT AND METHOD OF 428,852 5/1926 Germany 273/136 c CONSTRUCTION OTHER PUBLICATIONS [75] Inventor: Daniel Busby, Los Angeles, Calif. [73] Assignee: South Wall Corporation, Nassau,

Bahamas [22] Filed: June 4, 1973 [21] Appl. No.: 366,753

[52] US. Cl 273/136 H, 273/136 D, 273/136 G, 273/136 K [51] Int. Cl. A63f 3/00 [58] Field of Search 273/136 [56] References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 484,718 10/1892 lsaacs 273/136 H 1,352,733 9/1920 Egerton .1 273/136 R FOREIGN PATENTS OR APPLICATIONS 1,142,209 3/1957 France 273/136 H Popular Mechanics, Vol. 118, N0. 6, pp. 126129, 12-1962.

Primary ExaminerRichard C. Pinkham Assistant Examiner-Paul E. Shapiro Attorney, Agent, or Firm-Lyon & Lyon [57] ABSTRACT A game board insert having a low friction playing surface and being comprised of a base cloth, a base board, a pattern board which is secured to the base board and has portions cut therefrom corresponding to the pattern on the face of the insert. A layer of cloth is stretched over the pattern board and a plural ity of pressed leather pips are disposed over the stretch cloth and within the cutout portions of the pattern board.

8 Claims, 6 Drawing Figures P IE unnn I974 3,838,857

. I swear? LEATHER GAME BOARD INSERT AND METHOD OF CONSTRUCTION BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION In recent years there has been a great upsurge in the popularity of the game of backgammon. This game is played with a plurality of checkers on a playing board. The playing surface or board, for attractiveness and convenience, is often affixed to or otherwise formed the interior sides of a carrying case. The attractiveness and quality of the exterior of the game cases, however, is not generally matched by the playing surface which is often made of cork or some composite material. It would be highly desirable to have a playing surface which could incorporate the attractive leather covering of the carrier case. However, a high quality backgammon game board, to be acceptable, must have a very fast playing surface, i.e., one which presents a low coefficient of friction to the checkers as they are moved therealong from pip to pip. This requirement has heretofore greatly restricted the use of leather inserts for the pips in high quality boards as the improvement in esthetics is more then offset by the resulting slow awkard playing surface.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION Briefly, the invention comprises a game board insert having a reinforcing board with channels cut therein for holding a playing cloth and pressed leather pips. The playing cloth is stretched over the reinforcing board and the pips are disposed over the cloth and within the cut channels defining a substantially flat playing surface comprised of the playing cloth and leather pips.

It is the principal object of this invention to provide an attractive, low friction game board.

It is a further object of this invention to provide a low friction game board insert utilizing leather pips on the surface thereof.

It is another object of this invention to provide a low friction game board insert for a carrying case.

DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS FIG. 1 is an elevation of the game board insert disposed in a travel case, including the checkers and other playing paraphernalia.

FIG. 2 is a plan view of a checker.

FIG. 3 is a side view of a checker.

FIG. 4 is a partial sectional view showing the different layers of the game board insert sewn together.

FIG. 5 is an exploded view of a portion of the game board insert showing the separate layers thereof.

FIG. 6 is a sectional view taken along the line 66 in FIG. 4.

Referring now in detail to the drawings, FIG. 1 shows a pair of game board inserts l defining the interior walls of a game carrying case 12 and the backgammon playing surface 14. Also shown are the checkers l6, dice l8 and dice cuts 20 necessary for play. The construction of the insert 10 is perhaps shown most clearly in FIG. and seemed to be comprised of a base cloth 22, base 24, pattern board 26, playing surface cloth 28 and leather point indicators or pips 30. The base cloth is a muslin material and provides a base for sewing together of the composite insert as will be described. The base andpattern boards 24 and 26 are preferrably constructed of a fiber board or cardboard material as such materials are sufficiently rigid to provide the necessary reinforcement for the insert and yet will not overly restrict penetration by a sewing needle.

As shown in FIGS. 5 and 6, the pattern board 26 has portions cut therefrom which define the game board playing surface. While backgammon is the preferred game for which the insert 10 is to be used, it is understood that the pips 30 could be differently shaped to define other game board playing surfaces in which an attractive fast playing surface is desired. This will be apparent from the following detailed description of the insert. The pattern board 26 is affixed by a suitable adhesive to the base boards 24 thereby forming a reinforcing board 27 with channels 3.2 cut in the surface thereof. These channels are slightly larger than and conform in shape to the leather pips 30. The playing surface cloth 28 which is preferrably non-directional, i.e., having no knap, so as to allow the checkers to move easily thereon, is stretched over the reinforcing layer and the pips 30 are disposed thereover and within the channels 32. The channels are slightly larger than the pips to accommodate both the playing surface cloth 28 and pips so that the upper surface of the pips lies on substantially the same horizontal plane as the adjacent playing surface cloth 28 thereby providing a substantially flat playing surface. To hold the game board insert 10 together the pips and playing cloth are sewn together with the reinforcing board 27 and base cloth 22 with thread 34 as shown in FIGS. 4 and 6. An example of the non-directional cloth which is used in the preferred embodiment for the playing surface cloth is Mali sold by Mali, Inc. of New York.

This substantially flat playing surface of the game board insert 10 allows the checkers with their angled edge portions 36 to be easily moved thereover during the play of the game. However, the use of leather presents a tacky surface to the checkers as they are moved over the pips. To eliminate this restriction, the composite game board insert 10 is placed in a heat press 36 wherein the pips are compressed and heated until the oils are forced out of the leather. Typically this occurs when heated at about Fahrenheit for about 20 seconds. With the oil removed from the pips, the pips themselves present no additional frictional restriction to the checkers as they are moved along the game play ing surface.

Various changes and modification may be made in carrying out the instant invention without departing from the spirit and scope thereof. Insofar as these changes and modifications are within the purview of the intended claims they are to be considered as part of the invention.

I claim:

1. A game board insert defining a game playing surface and comprising a reinforcing board having a plurality of channels in the surface thereof, a playing surface cloth disposed over said reinforcing board, a plurality of substantially oil-free leather pips positioned over said playing surface cloth and within said channels such that the surface of the said pips lies on substantially the same horizontal plane as the adjacent playing surface cloth, said pips and said playing surface cloth defining said game playing surface :and means for holding said pips within said panels.

2. The combination of claim 1 wherein said channels are sized and shaped to receive a portion of said playing surface cloth and said pips and define the game playing surface on said reinforcing board thereby allowing said playing surface cloth and said pips to define a substantially flat game playing surface.

3. The combination of claim 2 wherein said holding means is thread, and including a base cloth disposed below said reinforcing board for facilitating sewing of said thread.

4. A game board insert defining a game playing surface comprising a base board, a pattern board disposed over said base board and having a plurality of channels cut therein, means for securing said pattern board to said base board thereby defining a reinforcing board having a plurality of channels in the surface thereof, a playing surface cloth disposed over said reinforcing board, a plurality of substantially oil-free leather pips positioned over said said playing surface cloth and within said channels such that the surface of said pips lies on substantially the same horizontal plane as the adjacent playing surface cloth, said pips and said playing surface cloth defining the game board playing surface and means for holding said pips within said channels.

5. The combination of claim 4 wherein said channels are sized and shaped to receive a portion of said playing surface cloth and said pips and define the game playing surface on said reinforcing board thereby allowing said playing surface cloth and said pips to define a substantially flat game playing surface.

6. The combination of claim 5 wherein said holding means is thread and including a base cloth disposed below said first reinforcing board to facilitate the sewing of said thread.

7. A method of constructing a game board insert defining a game playing surface comprising the steps of cutting channels on a pattern board securing said pattern board to a base board to define a reinforcing board with channels cut in the surface thereof, stretching a playing surface cloth over said reinforcing board, placing a plurality of leather pips over said playing cloth and within said channels, sewing said pips and said playing cloth to said reinforcing board to secure said insert and pressing and heating said insert to remove the oils from said leather pips.

8. The process of claim 7 wherein said pressing and heat step is conducted at about F for about 20 sec- 

1. A game board insert defining a game playing surface and comprising a reinforcing board having a plurality of channels in the surface thereof, a playing surface cloth disposed over said reinforcing board, a plurality of substantially oil-free leather pips positioned over said playing surface cloth and within said channels such that the surface of the said pips lies on substantially the same horizontal plane as the adjacent playing surface cloth, said pips and said playing surface cloth defining said game playing surface and means for holding said pips within said panels.
 2. The combination of claim 1 wherein said channels are sized and shaped to receive a portion of said playing surface cloth and said pips and define the game playing surface on said reinforcing board thereby allowing said playing surface cloth and said pips to define a substantially flat game playing surface.
 3. The combination of claim 2 wherein said holding means is thread, and including a base cloth disposed below said reinforcing board for facilitating sewing of said thread.
 4. A game board insert defining a game playing surface comprising a base board, a pattern board disposed over said base board and having a plurality of channels cut therein, means for securing said pattern board to said base board thereby defining a reinforcing board having a plurality of channels in the surface thereof, a playing surface cloth disposed over said reinforcing board, a plurality of substantially oil-free leather pips positioned over said said playing surface cloth and within said channels such that the surface of said pips lies on substantially the same horizontal plane as the adjacent playing surface cloth, said pips and said playing surface cloth defining the game board playing surface and means for holding said pips within said channels.
 5. The combination of claim 4 wherein said channels are sized and shaped to receive a portion of said playing surface cloth and said pips and define the game playing surface on said reinforcing board thereby allowing said playing surface cloth and said pips to define a substantially flat game playing surface.
 6. The combination of claim 5 wherein said holding means is thread and including a base cloth disposed below said first reinforcing board to facilitate the sewing of said thread.
 7. A method of constructing a game board insert defining a game playing surface comprising the steps of cutting channels on a pattern board securing said pattern board to a base board to define a reinforcing board with channels cut in the surface thereof, stretching a playing surface cloth over said reinforcing board, placing a plurality of leather pips over said playing cloth and within said channels, sewing said pips and said playing cloth to said reinforcing board to secure said insert and pressing and heating said insert to remove the oils from said leather pips.
 8. The process of claim 7 wherein said pressing and heat step is conducted at about 120*F for about 20 seconds. 